This Sunday, December 19, the Russian tenor Sergey Romanovsky performed on the stage of the Royal Opera of Wallonia-Liège, for the first of six performances
of Rossini's
Otello
scheduled until December 31.
As reported by
Radio Classique
, the tenor was announced suffering, but insisted on going on stage despite everything and playing his role as Otello.
Voiceless at the end of the first air, he then calls his understudy Anton Rositskiy to the rescue.
From a desk installed at the edge of the stage, the latter therefore takes over the sung parts, while Romanovsky remains on stage and plays his role, now in silence.
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A rare event, but not unheard of.
Radio Classique
recalls that a similar situation occurred in particular last October at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
The
soprano
Patricia Petibon had also found herself voiceless from the start of her performance of
Pelléas et Mélisande
, by Claude Debussy.
It was her double Vannina Santoni, eight months pregnant, who had come to save the show.
Nightmare preparation
For the Opéra de Wallonie, this latest episode comes to close a gloomy year 2021.
RTBF
says that the preparation of this
Otello
by Rossini was notably marked by the death of Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera, the artistic director of the Opera at the initiative of the representation, last February. In August, it was the conductor Gianluigi Gelmetti, who was to conduct this opera, which in turn died. Finally in November, the soloist Maxime Melnik, who was to take the role of
Iago
, was dismissed after a quarrel with the new director of the Opera Stefano Pace.
As for Sergey Romanovsky, he is still in pain and has canceled his participation in the performance on Thursday, December 23.
His understudy Anton Rositskiy continues to ensure the sung parts, but it is Grégoire Lugué-Thébaud who will now go on stage to mimic the parts of Romanovsky.